


Niffler

by chidoriXblossom



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Mud, Platypus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-11-04 13:09:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20733464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chidoriXblossom/pseuds/chidoriXblossom
Summary: Just another weird day on Tracy Island, in which Gordon makes friends with a platypus, Virgil hates mud, and Alan gets pranked.





	Niffler

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt given to me by VEGETACIDE on tumblr, who wanted something with Gordon and a baby platypus. Hopefully I did it justice lol

Virgil stared down at the floor and curled his lip in disgust. What a mess. Even with his reinforced boots and their heavy duty tread the floor was a serious slip hazard. There was mud _ everywhere_.

And it _ stank_.

That was the last time he let Gordon talk him into taking a detour home _ just _so he could pay a visit to his adventuring heroes, Buddy and Ellie Pendergast, and lend them a helping hand in another tricky situation they’d gotten themselves into.

One involving a beached amphibious truck, loads of horrible biting insects, and thick disgusting mud. Virgil had been lucky to find a single hardstanding spot in the whole area to set down Thunderbird Two, and even the pod Gordon had taken out had kicked mud everywhere as it disembarked to drag Buddy and Ellie out.

Honestly, that couple were the current bane of Virgil’s existence. 

Gordon had rescued the truck and towed it into the module after failing to get it started again, having been quick enough to plead with Brains for help in repairing the stricken vehicle just so he could spend a little more time with Buddy and Ellie. Never a man to let anyone down, Brains had caved almost immediately.

So the truck and the Pendergasts had flown home with them in Thunderbird Two, and Virgil just knew it was going to take _ days _ to get rid of the smell.

His beloved green ‘bird, normally immaculate, was splattered in varying shades of marshland brown, the ripe and pungent odour of swamp as thick in the air as the mess covering the module floor, and Buddy had even left a muddy handprint on the red fabric of his seat in Two’s cockpit.

Virgil almost felt like crying, but settled for quietly fuming on the short flight home instead.

They landed back on Tracy Island and the Pendergasts were out of their seats and making their way down to the module before the ship even came to a stop. Another thing that irked Virgil, and one glance at Gordon sent his younger brother after his two heroes.

Virgil joined them in the module once he completed his post flight checks, just in time to see Ellie clambering into their dead truck. Gordon was standing with Buddy by the cab.

“Good thing you boys showed up when you did,” Buddy grinned. “Best recovery service in the milky way. Not just any old tow truck would’ve got us outta that sticky mess, right, Ellie?”

“You’re right, Buddy,” his wife called cheerily from inside.

Virgil scowled. 

Thunderbird Two was _ not _ a tow truck. She was a state of the art rescue vehicle and she deserved more respect for all the good work she did on a daily basis. Saving lives. Nowhere on her hull did she display the words ‘tow service.’

Stupid Pendergasts. Stupid dead truck. Stupid foul smelling mud.

Virgil was royally irritated.

\---

“So what were you guys doing there?” Gordon asked, choosing to ignore the brewing storm clouds forming over his older brother’s head. Virgil was forever getting his piano strings in a knot over the condition of his ‘bird. Seriously, the big guy needed to relax a little, like Gordon.

The mud was nothing a good steam clean couldn’t fix, and talking to Buddy and Ellie was far more interesting anyway. Thunderbird Two could wait until later.

“Oh! Were you checking out locations for another episode?” That would be so awesome! Another season on the horizon would give Gordon something to look forward to, and he may even get a guest appearance this time if he was lucky. 

“Something like that,” Ellie replied, appearing from the truck with a box in her arms. “But mostly we were looking for somewhere to put this guy.”

She set the box down on the hangar floor and opened it up. Gordon, ever the curious one, was quick to look and his eyes instantly widened. Inside the box, nestled in some towels that made a makeshift nest, was a young platypus.

“Oh wow, he’s so cute!”

“We found the little guy injured and tangled in some wire a week ago,” Buddy explained. “So we took him in, did a bit of research and nursed him back to health. We were looking for somewhere to release him back into the wild when our truck got stuck.”

Gordon frowned. He really hated the carelessness of humans sometimes - their blatant disregard for wildlife and the natural environment, constantly dropping litter and causing sometimes irreversible damage, and not giving a damn about it.

In that aspect, people really were the scourge of the Earth. It was a shame there weren’t more people like the Pendergasts and others who actually cared about the environment and the wonderful creatures who lived in it. The little platypus was yet another victim of human ignorance, and Gordon wanted to do his part to help.

“What can I do? Would making a pool for him to swim in help? That way we could make sure he’s at full strength before he goes home.”

The suggestion made Ellie’s face light up and Buddy grinned. “Sounds perfect.”

Gordon beamed. “I’ll get right on it.”

~*~

Gordon fell in love with the little mammal instantly and made it his personal mission to ensure the young platypus was as comfortable as possible in his temporary accommodation on Tracy Island. 

After begging and pleading with Brains for over twenty minutes the aquanaut finally pulled the engineer away from his latest project, complete with an overly dramatic tale of the little animal’s plight that had Scott sticking his fingers in his ears. 

Brains worked quickly, and in just over an hour he and Max had a large acrylic aquarium constructed and set up by his lab in Thunderbird One’s hangar. Alan chipped in with finding some rocks for the bottom, and a bit of dressing up with artificial plants and even a rubber duck soon had the tank looking like a fun, near perfect restbite residence for the recovering mammal. Brains had also included a tunnel section that would give the platypus a place to hide out of the water and away from prying eyes.

Gordon chose a name.

“Niffler?” Scott asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s perfect, isn’t it,” Gordon beamed, carrying the box with its precious cargo towards the newly filled aquarium. “Because he looks a bit like a niffler from those Fantastic Beasts movies. It suits him.”

Scott hummed, not convinced. “Just try not to get too attached. You know we can’t keep him, Gordon.”

The younger brother scoffed and climbed into the waist deep tank, Niffler’s plastic box bobbing gently on the surface as the little animal scurried around inside. “I know, Scott. But while he is here I’m gonna make sure he has a good time, Tracy style.”

Kayo walked up to stand beside Scott. “Which to you means water and messing around,” she smirked, arms folded. 

Gordon waved her off with a wet hand, then slowly tipped Niffler’s box onto its side. The little platypus toddled to the edge and looked out. He seemed unsure at first, but after a moment he took the plunge and plopped into the cool, clear water.

“Clever boy, Niffler,” Gordon praised. “Do you like your little private pool?”

Niffler lay on the surface with his body’s natural buoyancy, letting the gentle waves of Gordon’s movement spin him around until he was facing the aquanaut. His little eyes glanced across his new environment, then after a moment of taking it all in his body flicked and he went under to investigate the bottom. 

His injury had been on one of his back legs, but thanks to Buddy and Ellie’s efforts all that was left of the wound was a slightly bald patch where the wire had been wrapped around him, and that would soon disappear once his fur grew back. Other than that his leg had fully healed and he showed no signs of any discomfort as he swam about inspecting the sand and rocks Alan had provided.

“Wow, he’s certainly swimming well,” Ellie said, crouching down to look into the tank as Niffler continued to explore. 

“Better than our tiny bath in the truck, right, Ellie?” Buddy smiled, hand on her shoulder.

“You’re right, Buddy.” She looked to Brains. “Thanks so much for doing this. It means a lot.”

“N-not a problem,” Brain told her. “I was happy to help.”

Gordon grinned. “Hey, Brains. Fancy coming in for a dip with him?” He knew the answer already, but it was always fun to see their engineer friend squirm a little.

“No th-thank you. I prefer to work with machines. I’m not the b-best with animals.”

“I’m coming in!” Alan said excitedly, already changed into some shorts. “No way I’m missing out on this.”

Once Alan had clambered in the two youngest brothers stood together while Niffler swam around. They knew better than to crowd the animal in case they scared him, so they waited until Niffler came closer and started to nudge at their hands. 

Within minutes he was rolling around on the surface of the water, interacting with both humans before splashing off and then returning to them. It was endearing to say the least, and Gordon felt his affection towards the strange little creature grow when Niffler swam into his hands and made an attempt to climb up his chest.

“He’s not scared of anything, is he.” Alan sounded about as awestruck as Gordon felt. “I wish we could keep him.”

John’s hologram appeared from a wall panel nearby. _ “No can do, Alan. Platypus are a protected species and it’s illegal to have them as pets. Even catching them for rehabilitation is prohibited without the proper credentials. Credentials we don’t have.” _

Gordon looked towards his two heroes at the edge of the tank. “I’m guessing one of you has them then,” he said, knowing the Pendergasts would never take charge of an animal if they didn’t have the right permissions.

“Ellie does,” Buddy confirmed. “But this is the first time we’ve ever rescued a platypus, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve.”

Gordon nodded and looked back into the water as Niffler came by for some more attention. He rolled onto his back and even allowed Gordon to give his tummy a brief tickle until he decided that Alan’s fingers looked tasty and had a nibble. It was adorable.

“He’s pretty cool,” the youngest Tracy smiled. “Look, he’s climbing me!” Alan was forced to lean forward as Niffler used his claws to pull himself out of the water and up his shirt, getting a new vantage point on his surroundings and all the humans watching him.

Gordon was worried for a brief half second that Alan might get scratched, but all his little brother did was complain about being tickled until Niffler stopped between his shoulder blades and then took a nose dive back into the water with a splosh.

“Okay, that was kinda cute,” Scott admitted, and that had Gordon grinning as if Scott had just complimented his own child.

“I know, right!”

~*~

Niffler was a big hit with everyone on the island. Even Virgil made an appearance after a hot shower and a dose of his favourite midnight black coffee to see how the critter was getting on. He’d regained his equilibrium somewhat now that he was clean and no longer splattered with mud, and the maintenance bots were busy washing the rest of it from Thunderbird Two, so that greatly improved his mood.

Seriously, the maintenance bots deserved more praise. When Gordon had proved to be too captivated by Niffler to even offer to help with the clean up Virgil resorted to using the machines once he’d steam cleaned the worst of the mud from Two’s cockpit floor and corridor down to the module himself. There was no way he was going to leave his big green girl all filthy for a moment longer than she had to be.

So once the bots took over with the rest of the work Virgil found himself with some free time and wombled to the infirmary. He wasn’t in the mood for art or music and a stock check in the infirmary was due so he settled for that to pass the time.

As the main medic in the family the infirmary was generally Virgil’s domain, and while everyone had a certain amount of medical training and responsibility over the room, Virgil had been unofficially put in charge. He was fine with that. Scott had enough to do already, John was rarely ever around and the terrible twosome couldn’t be trusted with much more than standard issue painkillers and a band aid. 

Speaking of which...

“Virgil?” Alan’s voice. He sounded nervous. 

Uh-oh.

Virgil looked round from the medicine cabinet he was reorganising and spotted his little brother peering into the room. Alan had never been a fan of the infirmary, having seen too many injured family members requiring treatment in it over the years, so he generally steered clear.

Virgil felt his big brother instincts flare up. “What’s wrong?”

Alan stepped fully into the room and Virgil’s brown eyes quickly zoned in on his little brother’s left hand, which he was cradling rather gingerly in his right. At first there didn’t appear to be much wrong, but Alan wouldn’t have come here without a reason so Virgil locked the medicine cabinet, pocketed the keys and approached his youngest brother.

“Here, let me take a look.” His large hand gently caught Alan’s much smaller one and turned it over slowly. Alan’s hands were a bit wrinkled from being in the water with Gordon and Niffler for so long, and the softened skin of his palm had been torn by what looked to be a claw and was now bleeding.

Virgil relaxed a little. He never liked seeing anyone he cared about injured, but this was only minor and could be dealt with easily.

So why did Alan look so worried?

“Let’s clean it up and then get some cream on it, okay?” He guided Alan towards the large sink and turned on the hot tap.

“But what about the venom?” Alan’s eyes were wide and he looked a little pale.

Virgil paused. Venom? Why would Alan be worried about--

Oh.

Gordon.

Figured.

Virgil let out a soft sigh and directed his brother to wash his hands. “There is no venom, Alan.”

The younger wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure? I mean, they are venomous, aren’t they? Platypus claws. That’s what did this.”

Honestly, Virgil was going to strangle Gordon. 

He returned to the medicine cabinet and had a look inside. “Yes, some platypus are venomous, but I can assure you that Niffler isn’t one of them.”

“But Gordon said--”

“Exactly. _ Gordon _ said.” Virgil almost heard the penny drop in Alan’s head. “Only adult males during the breeding season are venomous. It’s the wrong time of year and Niffler is too young.” Virgil retrieved a tube of polysporin cream that would do the job and locked the cabinet again. “You should know by now never to take anything Gordon says seriously, unless we’re on a mission.”

He turned just in time to see Alan’s face morph from concern to anger, his chest puffing up and eyes taking on a sharpness that was very reminiscent of Scott. “I’m gonna kill him.”

A smile back on his face, Virgil rolled his eyes. “Please don’t. It’ll be a pain finding someone else to operate Thunderbird Four full time.” He grabbed some paper towels and dabbed his brother’s now clean hand dry.

Alan grumbled. “Maim or seriously injure then.”

A shake of the head from Virgil. “More work for me to do. Can’t fly him to hospital because Two is still in deep cleaning.” That got an amused snort from Alan as Virgil applied the cream carefully along the length of the scratch and then finished it off with a large band aid.

“Okay, done. Try not to get it wet and change that in the morning if you still feel you need one. Come see me if it becomes painful or tender.” The risk of infection was small but Virgil wanted to cover all the bases. 

“Thanks, Virg.”

And as his youngest brother trotted out of the infirmary and back towards the hangar Virgil just knew that Alan was going to find some way to exact his revenge on Gordon for the cruel prank. It was only a matter of time.

~*~

Gordon was thrilled when he got to go with Buddy and Ellie to release Niffler back into the wild, but it was a bittersweet moment. The little platypus had been on Tracy Island for only two days, but he had really captured Gordon’s heart and it would be sad to see him go.

Niffler belonged in the wild though, where he could live out his natural life without any further human interaction. Releasing him was absolutely the right thing to do, and Gordon had that final honour.

With the carrier held carefully in his arms the aquanaut made his way across the uneven ground towards what he hoped would become Niffler’s new home, while Thunderbird Two stood on her struts on a hardstanding to allow the Pendergasts to disembark in their newly repaired truck. Alan accompanied Gordon part of the way but stopped to let his brother make the last leg of the short journey himself.

Gordon appreciated that. It meant he’d have a moment to say goodbye to Niffler alone. He really was going to miss him.

The area they had selected was perfect, having been recommended by a specialist, so Gordon was confident that Niffler would lead a happy life here. He stepped over the worst of the boggy areas and reached a clump of relatively dry grass at the edge of a large pond - the perfect platypus habitat.

“Okay, Niffler, this is you.” Gordon set the carrier down and opened it up, and he took a moment to admire Niffler in his towel nest as the little animal stared back at him. Gordon took him carefully into his hands and lifted him out, smiling as Niffler’s little webbed feet held onto his wrist.

“I think you’re gonna like it here. You’ve got your own little island in the middle a bit like Tracy Island. I hope you’ll think of me every now and then.” 

He gave the platypus a little scratch on the top of his head, brushed a finger over his beak, and then set him down on the grass. Gordon was grateful that none of his brothers were with him, willing to admit to himself that he felt a little emotional, but not show it in front of them. He loved animals and his short days with Niffler had been both fun and educational. He wanted to do a lot more for wildlife conservation now when he wasn’t too busy with International Rescue.

Lady Penelope had even offered to introduce him to a few people of significance. That would be cool. It was just a shame she’d been too busy to come out and meet Niffler herself. Gordon got the impression she would have liked him.

Niffler was having a snuffle at the grass he’d just been placed on and Gordon took the opportunity to give him one last little stroke down his back before the young platypus waddled off and slid into the water. Gordon watched him go until he disappeared below the surface, then sighed and lifted the now empty carrier.

“So long, Niffler. Have a good life.”

He returned to Thunderbird Two and waved as Buddy and Ellie also took their leave, then took a moment to admire the scenery and Niffler’s new home in the near distance. Alan appeared beside him and took the carrier from his hands.

“You sad?”

Gordon shrugged. “A little, but it was the right thing to do. Fun while it lasted.”

A grunt from Alan and he turned away. “Virgil says we take off in two.”

Gordon made a sound of acknowledgement and shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun with a hand. Yeah, he’d be there in a minute. As soon as he gathered his thoughts. It was nice of Alan to give him a bit of space. He was being very understanding.

Right up until the moment he felt a hand touch his back and shove him off his feet.

With a very undignified yelp Gordon landed face first in the muddy tyre tracks from Buddy and Ellie’s truck, getting a faceful of the foul smelling muck and smearing it all over his uniform. His hands sank into it as he pushed himself upright.

“Alan, you shit!”

The youngest Tracy cackled and retreated towards Thunderbird Two. “Payback for lying about the venom. No way I was letting you off with that.”

“Oh yeah?!” Gordon scrambled to his feet, nearly slipping and falling again, and was forced to spit some of it out. “Eww, it’s in my mouth! Alan, you’re dead.” He grabbed a handful of mud and chucked it towards his brother, successfully clipping him in the shoulder and back of the neck with it.

_ “You get one drop of mud in my ship and you’ll be sorry,” _ Virgil’s voice boomed from Two’s outboard speakers, and the module door started to close. Alan and Gordon were forced to abandon their mud fight and sprint for the ship, hopping inside just in the nick of time. They landed in a pile on the floor and Gordon was quick to shove his hand in his little brother’s face, covering him in mud.

“This isn’t over.”

Alan smirked. “Challenge accepted.”

They started to wrestle and shout profanities at one another as Thunderbird Two took to the air. Virgil locked them, and all of their smelly mud, in the module for the trip home.

**Author's Note:**

> So glad to finally have it finished. I did SO MUCH research on the platypus, having known next to nothing about them when I started. 
> 
> I looked at behaviour, diet, habitat, breeding cycles, life span and even the Australian laws on rehabilitating wild animals. A lot of that didn't make it into the final draft because it was just too complicated. 
> 
> Big thanks to Gumnut for proof reading some of it and helping me make changes where they were needed, and thanks to Veggie for the prompt. Hope you enjoy ^^


End file.
